Foot brake for axially shiftable handwheel of hand-powered two-speed winch



- Jan. 14, 1964 V s, s sE 3,117,659

FOOT BRAKE FOR AXIALLY SHIFTABLE HANDWHEEL 0F HAND-POWERED TWOSPEED WINCH Filed April 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 INVENTOR. 4 Ro/v/ILD s. SELSET ATTORNEYS Jan. 14, 1964 R. s. SELSET 3,117,659

FOOT BRAKE FOR AXIALLY SHIFTABLE HANDWHEEL OF HAND-POWERED TWOSPEED WINCH Filed April 12, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

INVENTOR. RON/9L0 S. SELSET ATTO RN EYE:

United States Patent FOOT BRAKE FOR AXIALLY SHIFIABLE HANDWHEEL 0F HAND-PUWERED TWG- SPEED m CH Ronald S. Selset, Seattle, Wash, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Beebe Bros., Inc., a corporation of Washington Filed Apr. 12, 1962, Ser. No. 187,061 6 Claims. (Ci. 1924) This invention relates to a hand-powered winch, particularly a 2-speed winch receiving its power from a handwheel, and wherein the two speeds are obtained from gear trains by the act of shifting the handwheel in an axial direction into either of two positions, selectively. For its general object the invention aims to provide a winch of this character having a foot-operated brake of unusually simple and inexpensive construction which performs its braking function by bearing against the rim of said axially shiftable handwheel. This and other more particular objects and advantages will appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a hand-powered winch constructed to embody the preferred teachings of the present invention, with parts broken away and shown in section.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged-scale longitudinal vertical sectional view on line 33 of FIG. 2 detailing a keeper member which is employed to releasably hold the handwheel in either of three axially shifted positions.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view on line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale on line 5-5 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary transverse vertical sectional view drawn on the jogged section line 66 of FIG. 5.

Referring to said drawings the numerals 7 and 8 denote laterally spaced apart cheek plates of a winch frame, connected one to the other by stay-rods 10, and each bolted, as at 11, to a respective one of two mounting brackets 12 and 13. Receiving support from the cheek plates are a plurality of horizontal non-rotary shafts, as 15, 16, 17 and 18. A fifth shaft 20 is also carried by the cheek plates but is distinguished in that the same is journaled both for rotation and endwise motion.

An internally-hushed cable-winding drum 21 for the Winch is journaled for rotation upon the shaft 15. Internally-bushed cluster gears are journaled for rotation one upon the shaft 16 and the other upon the shaft 17, with the small pinion 22 of the first named cluster in constant mesh with a gear wheel 23* fast to the drum, and with the large pinion 24 of said first-named cluster in constant mesh with the small pinion of the last-named cluster. The large pinion of such last-named cluster is denoted by 26.

The handwheel 29 for the winch is fixedly mounted upon an exposed end of said shaft 2%} projecting laterally beyond the frame. A collar 27, and two pinion gears, one somewhat larger than the other, are pinned or otherwise fixedly secured upon such shaft 20 to occupy axially spaced positions between the two cheek plates, with the larger pinion 28 being moved into and out of engagement with the gear wheel 23 by movement of the shaft 20 to and from one extreme of its permitted endwise travel, and with the smaller pinion 36 being moved into and out of engagement with the cluster pinion 26 by movement of said shaft to and from the opposite extreme of its permitted endwise travel. -'Both pinions are inactive when the shaft occupies a centered position between said extremes. To releasably hold such shaft in either of said two speed-selecting positions, or in the centered posi tion therebetween, a keeper is provided, such keeper being in the nature of an open-bottom box, designed either to lodge over the collar 27 or bear by either end face against the same. Said box body, denoted by 31, and an operating handle 32 are formed upon the opposite ends of a lever 33 fulcrumed for rocker motion upon the shaft 18. Collars 39 pinned to said shaft hold the keeper against endwise motion.

Proceeding now to describe the brake, a strut 34 is welded upon the outboard end of the bracket 12- beyond the outer extreme of the handwheels slide travel. A shaft 35 extends parallel to the shaft 20 from this strut to the inboard flange of the bracket in a position spaced a moderate distance below the rim 36 of said wheel. A lever of the first order is fulcrumed for slide and rocker motion on said shaft 35 so as to present a foot pedal 37 at one end and a power arm 38 at the other end. Such lever is comprised of two paralleling spaced branches yoked together at the pedal end. At the power end of the lever a shoe 4% is received in the space between said branches, and is connected to the power arm by a pin 41, permitting the shoe to pivot freely about an axis paralleling the rocker axis of the lever. The shoe is U-shaped in cross-section with the side arms flanking the side edges of the handwheel, with moderate tolerance provided thereetween, and overlying the floor of the shoe is a friction block 42 arranged by exertion of foot pressure upon the pedal to be brought to bear against the wheel. A counterweight 43 is welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the power arm of the lever so as to normally depress the latter and hold the friction block out of contact with the handwheel, said counterweight in its normal position resting flat upon the horizontal section of the mounting bracket 12.

it is believed to be apparent that the wheel-flanking side arms of the shoe 49 cause the foot lever to slide along the shaft 35 in concert with the handwheel as the latter is shifted endwise to its axis so as to power the winch drum at either a high or a low speed, the former being afforded by direct engagement of pinion gear 23 with the gear wheel of the drum and the latter being afforded by pinion gear 30 working through the two sets of cluster gears.

While not here illustrated, the winch of the present invention desirably employs a quick-release dog of the character illustrated and described in my co-pending application for Letters Patent of the United States filed March 1, 1962, 'Ser. No. 176,608.

While I have illustrated and described my now-preferred embodiment of the invention, changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is accordingly my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language admits.

What I claim is:

1. In a hand-powered multi-speed winch providing a drive shaft g'ournaled both for rotary and endwise motion with the rotary motion serving to power the winch and the endwise motion serving to select the speed, having a handwheel fixedly mounted on said shaft, and providing means for releasably setting the drive shaft at axially adjusted points for selecting said speed, the combination with said drive shaft, said shaft-setting means, and the handwheel: a friction brake for the handwheel comprising a lever of the first order fulcrumed to rock about an axis paralleling the endwise axis of the drive shaft and also journaled for slide motion along said rocking axis and upon one end of said lever providing a shoe loosely fitting the rim of the handwheel so as to slide in concert with the handwheel as the latter is shifted in said speedselecting movement, a friction braking surface provided by said shoe, the other end of said lever being subject to manual pressure for forcing said braking surface against the rim of the handwheel, and yielding means exerting constant force upon said lever in a direction opposite that of said brake-applying manual pressure so as to preclude the braking surface dragging on the handwheel when the handwheel is being manually turned to power the winch.

2. In a hand-powered multi-speed winch providing a winding drum with a gear wheel thereon, a train of reduction gearing including input and output gears with the latter in constant mesh with the gear wheel, and a drive shaft journaled both for rotary and endwise shift motion with the rotary motion serving to power the winch and the shift motion serving to select the speed by drive coupling the shaft either with the drums gear wheel or the input gear of the reduction gearing, selectively, having a handwheel fixedly mounted on said shaft, and providing means for releasably setting the drive shaft in selected axially shifted positions, the combination with said drum, gearing, drive shaft, shaft-setting means, and the handwheel: a friction brake for the handwheel comprising a shoe journaled for slide motion below said handwheel along an axis paralleling the endwise axis of the drive shaft and having upstanding side walls which loosely lap the rim of the handwheel and by said lap cause the shoe to slide in concert with the handwheel as the latter is shifted, a friction brake block carried by said shoe, foot-operated means for pressing said brake block against the rim of the handwheel, and means imposing yielding pressure upon said brake block in a direction opposite that of said foot-operated means so as to preclude brake drag when the handwheel is being manually turned to power the winch.

3. In a hand-powered 2-speed winch providing a winding drum with a gear wheel thereon, having a train of reduction gearing including input and output gears of which the latter is in constant mesh with the gear wheel, and providing a drive shaft journaled both for rotary and endwise motion and with two selectively employed gears being fixed thereto one of which is brought into mesh with the input gear of the reduction gearing by motion of the drive shaft in one direction of its endwise movement and the other of which is brought into mesh with the gear wheel by motion of the shaft in the other direction of its endwise movement, and providing means for releasably setting the drive shaft in either of said gear-meshing positions, a handwheel fixed on said drive shaft, a mounting shaft occupying a position below the handwheel parallel to the drive shaft, a foot lever of the first order fulcrumed to and slidable on said mounting shaft, a shoe pivotally mounted on the power-arm end of said lever for motion about an axis paralleling that of the mount ing shaft and presenting upstanding wings at each side which loosely lap the rim of the handwheel and by said lap cause the lever, with its shoe, to slide in concert with the handwheel, means carried by said shoe presenting a friction braking surface caused to bear against and brake the rim of the handwheel by pressure of an operators foot upon the lever, and means acting upon said shoe to yieldingly counter said foot pressure.

4. Structure according to claim 3, the means last recited comprising a counterweight rigidly secured to the power arm of the lever.

5. Structure according to claim 3, said gear-meshing positions of the drive shaft being at the opposite extremes of an established range of permitted slide movement, and wherein the means for releasably setting the drive shaft permits the shaft to be also set in a position midway between said extremes which holds both shaft-carried gears out of mesh, said setting means comprising a lever of the first order fulcrumed to rock about an axis paralleling the axis of the drive shaft and formed so as to present upon one end an open-bottom box body arranged to be lodged either over or against either side face of a collar fixed to the drive shaft, said setting lever being held against movement endwise to its fulcrum axis.

6. In a hand-powered multi-speed winch providing a drive shaft journaled both for rotary and endwise motion with the rotary motion serving to power the winch and .the endwise motion serving to select the speed, having a handwheel fixedly mounted on said shaft, and providing means for releasably setting the drive shaft at axially adjusted points for selecting said speed, the combination with said drive shaft, said shaft-setting means, and the handwheel: a friction brake for the handwheel comprising a lever of the first order fulcrumed to rock about an axis paralleling the endwise axis of the drive shaft and also journaled for slide motion along said rocking axis and upon one end of said lever providing a shoe loosely fitting the rim of the handwheel so as to slide in concert with the handwheel as the latter is shifted in said speed-selecting movement, and a friction braking surface provided by said shoe, the other end of said lever being subject to manual pressure for forcing said braking surface against the rim of the handwheel.

No references cited. 

1. IN A HAND-POWERED MULTI-SPEED WINCH PROVIDING A DRIVE SHAFT JOURNALED BOTH FOR ROTARY AND ENDWISE MOTION WITH THE ROTARY MOTION SERVING TO POWER THE WINCH AND THE ENDWISE MOTION SERVING TO SELECT THE SPEED, HAVING A HANDWHEEL FIXEDLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT, AND PROVIDING MEANS FOR RELEASABLY SETTING THE DRIVE SHAFT AT AXIALLY ADJUSTED POINTS FOR SELECTING SAID SPEED, THE COMBINATION WITH SAID DRIVE SHAFT, SAID SHAFT-SETTING MEANS, AND THE HANDWHEEL: A FRICTION BRAKE FOR THE HANDWHEEL COMPRISING A LEVER OF THE FIRST ORDER FULCRUMED TO ROCK ABOUT AN AXIS PARALLELING THE ENDWISE AXIS OF THE DRIVE SHAFT AND ALSO JOURNALED FOR SLIDE MOTION ALONG SAID ROCKING AXIS AND UPON ONE END OF SAID LEVER PROVIDING A SHOE LOOSELY FITTING THE RIM OF THE HANDWHEEL SO AS TO SLIDE IN CONCERT WITH THE HANDWHEEL AS THE LATTER IS SHIFTED IN SAID SPEEDSELECTING MOVEMENT, A FRICTION BRAKING SURFACE PROVIDED BY SAID SHOE, THE OTHER END OF SAID LEVER BEING SUBJECT TO MANUAL PRESSURE FOR FORCING SAID BRAKING SURFACE AGAINST THE RIM OF THE HANDWHEEL, AND YIELDING MEANS EXERTING CONSTANT FORCE UPON SAID LEVER IN A DIRECTION OPPOSITE THAT OF SAID BRAKE-APPLYING MANUAL PRESSURE SO AS TO PRECLUDE THE BRAKING SURFACE DRAGGING ON THE HANDWHEEL WHEN THE HANDWHEEL IS BEING MANUALLY TURNED TO POWER THE WINCH. 